Azmina Gulamhusein’s Zuidas urban design thesis explores how Amsterdam’s financial district could become a richer mix of mobility, work, leisure, startups and public life.
The project is useful because it treats the business district as a spatial problem, not just an economic one. The question is how architecture can weave different functions into a place dominated by offices, metro infrastructure and the A10 highway.
Project images
The project visuals support the wider urban strategy, showing communal space, built form and sectional thinking around a mixed-use district.
Project overview
Azmina completed her Masters in Architecture at the University of Edinburgh after studying Part I at the University of Bath. She also completed two six-month placements in London and was looking for a Part II Architectural Assistant role when this work was first shared.
Her year-long design project analyses Zuidas in Amsterdam, a financial district and business centre arranged around the metro station and A10 highway.
What the thesis is testing
- How nonstandard functions can interrupt a district dominated by business use.
- How architecture can connect finance, startups, leisure and arts.
- How mobility can become a spatial strategy rather than only a transport issue.
- How medium-sized office towers can be read as part of a wider urban system.
- How an urban design portfolio can make large-scale thinking easy to follow.
Why it matters for a Part II portfolio
Urban design work can become difficult to read if it stays too abstract. The strongest version explains the district condition, the proposed change, the programme mix and the evidence behind the strategy.
Showcase an urban design thesis
Architecture Social can feature student work that explains district strategy, mobility, mixed use, public life or large-scale architectural thinking.
- Make the site problem clear.
- Show the strategy at district and human scale.
- Explain the programme mix in plain language.
- Use drawings that prove how the proposal works.
Architecture Social view
Stephen’s recruiter view is that urban design projects need a sharp hierarchy. Lead with the problem, then show the strategy, then prove the design at a scale where the reader can imagine people using it.
Next step
Explore more student projects, browse Part II Architectural Assistant jobs, or submit an urban design thesis.
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